Well Hello, and Good-bye

Aug 2-8, 2010


Back from vacation, alive and kicking, I went back to my vacation style work schedule. Though in all honesty, working only half days Mon/Wed, a full day Fri, and not at all Tues/Thurs is areal bummer. It's nice to get paid to do nothing, but when you have to sit around at the office for 8 hours doing nothing, it gets boring quick. At least I had some good vacation stories to share with my students and coworkers, which helped pass sometime for the first few days.
At work on Monday, I got a call from Blake about meeting up in Sillim with him, Dave, and Kate for some drinks and to catch up since we hadn't seem them in a bit. I love Dave and Kate, so I told him I would be there right after I got out. I met up with them at a bar where they already had some beer and soju ordered, and we proceeded to chat and we told them all about our Busan vacation. We hung out until around 2am before calling it a night. Blake and I split a cab home, while Dave and Kate stayed at a hotel in Sillim since they live so far away from there.
While at work on Tuesday, we were told that our school is going to be having an open house fun day for the kids August 14th, and that w will have to be a work that Saturday to play game and entertain the kids and their friends. I think the idea of having an open house is good. It will drum up business for the school, and give everyone a chance to interact in a non-academic setting. After work, Jean, Mike and I went out for a couple beers to talk about the open house and some other office stuff. We didn't stay out too long, since Jean had to be in early the next day, and I was pretty wiped from vacation still.
While out on Monday, I got a text from a new friend of mine,Lauren, from South Africa about meeting up Wednesday night to hang out, watch a movie and talk about vacation. So after work on Wednesday I trekked down to Yatap where she lives (in an apartment that makes mine look like a pizza box in an alley that a bum might sleep under) and we proceeded to sit around at her place drinking wine and chatting until 2 or 3. So many late nights between vacation and the start of the week, left me wiped on Thursday. Luckily my schedule is pretty open on Thursdays, so I took the 8 hours of nothingness at work to have a couple naps, and do some reading. I know what you're thinking 'oh how had a life I live', and I completely agree. After work Thursday, I continued my recuperation at home, watching a movie and chilling out with Goah.
Friday, being the only day of the week when I have a semblance of a full schedule, I was busy at work and the time went by quite quickly. After work wrapped up, I headed off to Itaewon to meet up with Lauren and one of her friends at a Jazz Bar. I haven't been to a Jazz Bar in a long time, so it was a good change of pace, though the band was playing music that sounded more reggae than jazz, but still very different and refreshing. We called it quits around 130 to try and find cabs, and beat the rain. A gamble we lost terribly. We were no sooner outside when it started to sprinkle. And that sprinkle quickly turned to a downpour as we tried to find cabs amidst the crowd. After about 15 minutes, we were able to get our own, and head home to dry out and rest up for Saturday's party.
Waking up around 1 Saturday, I took some time to hang out at home before going to meet Blake and Nate at Bangbae for some good weather wondering. We came up with the idea very randomly and thought it wold be a good way to see an area none of us had been to before. I got there around 3, and we just walked around for a while until we came back upon their neighbourhood, where we took a Gatorade break at Blake's and watched some comedy special Nate had on his flash drive. By 6 I left Blake's to get home and shower up before Doug and Rachel's going away party in Itaewon. They were scheduled to have dinner around 830 but I decided to grab some grub on my own before going out. By the time I arrived in Itaewon, they group was already at Roofers having a few drinks. I quickly joined the party with my buddy Rochhi, and got into conversation with everyone. After a while, Doug and Rachel decided they wanted to get their groove on, so we left Roofers and went to Helios. This was the first time I had been to Helios, as I don't frequent Itaewon that often, and it is a popular hangout for army douches. Either way, we went their and it turned out to be a great time. We danced up a storm and stayed there until 5am, when we decided it was time for kebabs and the catch the first subway home.
Home and in bed by 630, I slept until 3 on Sunday before getting up to go meet Blake and JungHun for a baseball game. The game was between the LG Twins (Seoul's team) and the Samseong Lions (Daegu's team), in which the Twins were slaughtered. After the game we headed to Sincheon for some lamb galbi, then since we were in the area, popped over to Gold Bar to say hi. While there Blake got suckered into an armwrestle to which I had refused, and lost, so he had to buy the guy a drink; but in return the guy bought us some nachos. Not wanting to be out too late, we all caught the last subway home at 1130.
And so another week ended. Hope you are all enjoying the summer still.